More New Recipes

So, clearly I'm on an ambitious streak this weekend...sheesh!!

For breakfast, I tried out a new quinoa/breakfast porridge recipe. It called for cooking the quinoa in coconut milk and adding some brown sugar (I used agave) and strawberry jam. I had some tamarind paste from last fall from some recipe that I've never used up. It's just a fruit from south of the border, and since it was pure fruit puree, I figured I'd give it a try. It also said to top with sliced grapes... I saw another recipe that called for toasted pecans too, so threw those on there too! It was DELICIOUS. I halved the quinoa/milk but accidentally used the full amount of cinnamon and agave sooo I could have gone lighter on the sweet, and am not sure it needs cinnamon, but definitely will eat this more often!

 This is some Fava bean breakfast dip; the recipe said it's good dipped with pita bread. Well, clearly that wasn't an option... I've never had fava beans before either, soo thought I'd try this for another breakfast option... the sausages I normally eat are just so expensive, and I can't do cereal, yogurt or eggs sooo what's a girl supposed to do?! Anyways, this came out pretty good! I wonder if I can dip homemade sausages in it? Or just eat this and some fruit - get protein in that would be filling. Anyways, it's tasty, I'm just not sure what I'll combine with it. But it's a keeper recipe.

 Um, so these pretty much are my new favorite recipe... They are Indian vegetarian burgers. Made with ground cashews, sweet potatoes, peas, cauliflower and curry powder and green onions. Oh.My.Gosh. I might or might not have consumed FOUR of them. Holy cow. I figure they're best hot out of the oven b/c they are crispy, but I will definitely be excited to eat these the rest of this week!

 These are quinoa meatballs - made with bison, zucchini, carrots, scallions...and supposed to have ketchup and soy sauce in them...buuuut I can't do soy sauce and didn't have ketchup. Really drew a blank what to sub for that...threw in some olive oil and garlic and a little balsamic vinegar. I think I don't need soy sauce, but I would try ketchup in the future. But these actually turned out pretty tasty, so into the freezer they have gone for days that are too crazy and I need to pull something from the freezer...Amazing to be at this point where I can make something I can freeze!!

 Uh, this.This is a lentil fennel mint salad. I have hardly ever eaten lentils but bought some on sale the other day and thought they'd be good to incorporate into my diet some how. I've never had fennel before, and I have mint coming out my ears so this seemed like a great recipe. Yah. Um, not a huge fan of fennel... so this will be the one and only time I eat this recipe. It's something to eat, which is good... but yah, not a fan.

 Speaking of not a fan...LOL... oh dear. So, I'm trying to branch out from my $2/sausage breakfast. When perusing the recipes for the sausages (two different ones below), I thought I'd probably have thyme, marjoram and sage at home in the spice cabinet. Uh huh. But I didn't. So I thought I would substitute. Well, fail. :)  The top one was pretty good - I made it with chicken and turkey, and used Chef's Shake blend that I had on hand that was a variety of spices, to sub for the three ingredients I didn't have. It turned out ok and I'll eat them up, but have already put marjoram, thyme and sage on my grocery list. Because this recipe has potential...just if I make it the way it's supposed to be made ;)

HOWEVER, let's talk about the other sausage... This one called for nutmeg, allspice, and the same ingredients above that I didn't have. So, thinking I could wing it and substitute, I used Chinese Five Spice powder, because it had the fennel seed and a few other ingredients I didn't have. It also had cinnamon. Which happens to be a very strong flavor. And which also happens to NOT belong with chicken sausage!! I fried up a bite of each to see how they were, and when I took a bite of this it was all I could do to not throw it across the room. Sadly (?) I'm too cheap to throw it away, tho I was calculating how much money I'd be throwing away if I just chunked it in to the garbage. But, I figured I could suffer through...it only made 4 more patties for breakfast so if I space them out and eat it with some thing I really like (nectarines, anyone!?) maybe it'll be ok :)

Guess you win some, lose some, when trying new recipes... those Indian vegetarian patties were to die for tho... I'm pretty excited to have found this recipe!! :)